Technical Field
The disclosure relates generally to powering mobile devices and, more particularly, it relates to distribution of power from various sources within such devices.
Description of Related Art
Battery-powered electronic devices, such as smart phones, e-readers, handheld gaming devices, tablet computing devices and laptop computers, typically include a platform power management unit (PMU) having a battery charger for charging an internal battery using power received from an external source (such as a wall adapter or a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port) and other devices. In recent years, manufacturers of such devices have begun including wireless power transfer (WPT) capabilities in such devices in order to enable charging of internal batteries from a wireless power source without the use of a wired connection.
Various technologies may be employed for wireless power transfer, including magnetic induction charging and magnetic resonance charging. The Rezence™/WiPower™ specification promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power (A4WP) is one example of a current WPT approach that utilizes magnetic resonance charging. The Qi™ specification promulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) relies on a magnetic induction charging approach. In order to facilitate battery charging operations, certain WPT systems utilize bi-directional communications between source and recipient devices. For example, communication between devices may include out-of-band signaling utilizing a low energy wireless protocol, such as Bluetooth™ Low Energy or NFC protocol.